


It shoots most quickly out of sight

by Morgyn Leri (morgynleri)



Series: As It All Burns [2]
Category: Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, GFY, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-06
Updated: 2015-01-06
Packaged: 2018-03-06 08:07:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3127241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/morgynleri/pseuds/Morgyn%20Leri
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Leaving in light and Light, not under the shadow that casts a long darkness on the heart of the Republic.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It shoots most quickly out of sight

There are no more younglings in the Temple, no more Padawans or their Masters, those sent out under the cover of deep city streets and hidden doors to carry their hopes out from the reach of the Sith and Empire. There had been talk among those who did not sit upon one of the councils that perhaps too the Masters who they looked to should also go with the youngest.

Yoda sighs, looking out through the windows of the High Council's chamber in the center spire, the shimmer of shields hiding the menace that waits beyond. Some of the younger members of the High Council had gone when pressed to do so, and they will reach the safety of their once-enemies in the wake of the last of the younglings to be sent to sanctuary.

"The shields will fall within a week." Mace is standing behind him, one of those who has remained, keeping the Force-sense of a full Temple up with greater and greater effort as more escape the noose.

"Know this, I do." Yoda leans a little more on his stick, his age feeling more settled in his bones than he had expected. He will find the warm embrace of the Force sooner than later, but not yet. Still needed, is he. "Ready, all who remain."

Mace comes over, reflected dimly in the night-darkened glass as he looks out, eyes fixed as Yoda's are on the unseen dome of the Senate, where their enemy waits for their strength to fail. Too late seen to stop, soon enough seen to prevent the full horror that the Force still echoes with. There will be no Jedi dead in the halls of the Temple, no younglings slaughtered in the heart by one they would trust.

"The ships are ready, the few who will seal the Temple waiting for the command." Mace meets his gaze in the reflection. "We have no better time to break this siege."

"Wait, we will." Yoda turns away from the window, slowly making his way toward the doors of the Council chamber, Mace following where a Padawan might walk, if Yoda were inclined to take another. "When time it is, the Force to us will speak."

Soon, that much is already certain, perhaps as soon as the turning of Coruscant brings sunlight to the Temple once more. Leaving in light and Light, not under the shadow that casts a long darkness on the heart of the Republic.

"Upon the ships, we must be. Ready, all must be."

* * *

He watches the Temple, with the glittering shield of Force and technology arcing over it to keep out the troopers who wait to wipe the planet clean of the points of light that waver beyond the shield. Soon it will be time to move in, and then his revenge on the Jedi will take the greatest toll on those who have escaped the first wave of the Purge.

A smile creases his face as sunlight breaks over the edge of the horizon, shining off the spires of the Temple hazily through the blue-glowing energy of the shield. Today.

The smile fades when the shield drops smoothly, as if brought down rather than failed, the rumbling roar of ship engines reaching his Force-enhanced hearing as he watches from the Imperial Tower. There are fewer points of life than he expects, and so few that aren't on the ships that rise toward the waiting cruisers that orbit over the Temple in anticipation of such a tactic. None feel of tender and vulnerable youth, only of resolve and Jedi-bright.

Another rumble draws his gaze back to the Temple itself, a snarl of thwarted intent escaping him as spires gracefully implode, dust spreading out from ancient stone and newer duracrete from the sides of the ziggurat as well. Implosion to seal a tomb for those who had remained, lights spreading like stars gone nova as they steal his victory and revenge from him.

One apprentice vanished, another turned against him, and a third stolen before he could more than begin his careful corruption. Now his plans for the Jedi turned into dust and ash, as above him, he can sense, despite his planning, that not all of the ships will be stopped. Indeed, one he would want destroyed most is already punching past the cruisers and making for where they might slide into hyperspace and away from his grasp.

How had this been hidden from his view, kept from making a ripple in the Force until he could not prevent it?

**Author's Note:**

> Title from "All Turns to Yesterday", by Mediaeval Baebes.


End file.
